


The origins of the honorable Phryne Freeman

by hotchocolateaddict



Series: The Hon. Mrs Phryne Freeman [1]
Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: 1920's, F/M, M/M, Marriage, Multi, Open Relationship, Other, Supportive Partners, WW1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23544082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchocolateaddict/pseuds/hotchocolateaddict
Summary: The Honorable Mrs Phryne Freeman grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in the poorest part of Collingwood. Due to her Aunt Prudence, however, she spent much of that time around the upper echelons of Melbourne society. That was how she met Victor Freeman an adventurous young boy from a good family who she eventually married.The story of Miss Fisher if she had been married to a loving and supportive husband for all of her adult life.  This is the tale of the couples life before the couple comes to Melbourne at the start of Cocaine Blues.
Relationships: Phryne Fisher/Vic Freeman
Series: The Hon. Mrs Phryne Freeman [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694368
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	The origins of the honorable Phryne Freeman

The Honorable Mrs Phryne Freeman had not always been Honorable, she grew up as Phryne Fisher in Collingwood. Her Aunt Prudence always liked to point out that Collingwood wasn’t just the wrong side of the tracks it was the wrong side of any tracks. Yet despite living in the poorest part of Melbourne, she had spent most of her childhood in the richest. Her Aunt had insisted on introducing the poor girl to the upper echelons at a young age. She went to a good school and 'had' the privilege of going to the parties. Though she was mainly invited to help care for her cousin Arthur. It was during one such party, that she met Victor Freeman. 

It was on December 23rd 1906 that she met her future husband, it was 3 days after her 7th birthday and 22 years later she still remembered the day clearly. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress covered in white flowers that her Aunt had given her for her birthday. She had already taken more than her fair share of mince pies and the maid was starting to avoid her when circulating them so she did what any good Collingwood girl would do; she stole some. This seemed like the obvious option to the young Phryne and it was something she had done many times before. She snuck off the patio where the adults were sitting, and out to the outdoor kitchen where there were piles of mince pies. When the maid had gone to handout some drinks, and the cook was in the kitchen she ran up to a tray. After taking a quick look to see if the cook was coming back she went to lift it up but found she was not strong enough. That was when Victor Freeman came along he was 10 and he walked up behind her to pick up the solid silver tray like the hero would in the pictures. He failed, while he found it easier to lift than Phryne there was no way he could make it to the treeline without several stops. Phryne had been worried over how long her plan was taking and went to help. With both of them, they were able to get it over to the trees and that was the beginning of a beautiful partnership. 

She learnt a lot about Victor Freeman that day he was adventurous like her, although he lacked some of her practical experience. They had talked and climbed trees and ate mince pies, for hours and hours it was the most fun either had ever had. Eventually, the sun began to set and they had to go inside, where they pretended they had been all day. It is a testament to how well they had gotten on that when Aunt Prudence praised Victor calling him a ‘good boy from a good family’ Phryne hadn’t held him against him. 

The friendship had continued to blossom sneaking away from any party they could and going to visit each other whenever possible. They had adventures too numerous to mention and he even became a member of her Collinwood gang. She taught him how to jump a fence and pick a lock both of which helped him to sneak out, and when they got older he taught her how to drive and how to fly when his family brought him a plane in 1912. Flying became their favourite thing to do and they would take a picnic and spend a day together, which became a far bigger deal less than a year later. 

On her 14th Birthday a year later, Victor made it a special day. Victor had taken the plane and had arranged a picnic for them in the country; he had a beautiful diamond necklace for her that had been made just for her. This alone would have been special, she loved having a bit of luxury in her life but he then confessed his feelings for her and gave her a proper kiss. Sure they had kissed before a peck here and there but this was a proper lovers kiss that expressed more than words how they felt about one another. That behaviour quickly led to other forms of canoodling and actions that kept their mothers up at night. It took 6 months before Vic’s Mother insisted that his brother had to tag along when they went flying. Phryne didn’t mind, she loved Charles as she did Janey and she was determined that Vic would never go through what she did. She never thought that it would be Charles fearing that he would lose his brother but then again nobody could predict the horrors that lay ahead. 

As the war came around both knew that they weren’t the kind to sit around and do nothing neither would be content with anything but the fronts fighting for their country. By the time the war had rolled around they were already lovers and had made some very serious declarations of love and intention. Many teenagers make declarations of love to each other but the ones that Phryne and Victor made were different they truly meant every word. As the days went by and more telegrams came they knew this war would change their lives but neither thought the war would change their lives through inheritance. The war had only been going on a few months when Phryne’s father inherited a title. The fact that it was that quick was a testament to how deadly the war was and how quickly it was killing the aristocracy. This new wave allowed Victor and Phryne’s relationship to blossom publicly in ways that it had privately for years. She was fully accepted into high society and their relationship became far more acceptable to Vic’s family who no longer viewed her as a way for him to spread his wild oats. 

In 1915 Victor turned 19 and was legally old enough to join the war effort, he signed up the next day to become a pilot saying nothing more than “I’m sorry but we both knew this was going to happen for Phryne.” She had expected nothing less and had been there to wave him off at the Docks with a kiss and token for her in the same way that 100’s of other girls were, but Phryne wasn’t like other girls. She could accept that Vic was ready to fight for his country despite the danger but she couldn’t lose someone else so close to her heart. With rumours that the life expectancy of a fighter pilot was only a week Phryne did what she had to do. She left for England a month after Victor did, she had convinced her father to send her to school in London. She was still convinced that the only reason he did was that it was cheap and looked good, even if he claimed it was because he knew how much she loved Victor. 

After three months on a boat, Phryne was relieved to walk on the land again even if it took a while to get her land legs back. Her father insisted they go to the hotel before she started chasing after Victor, but she was only in there long enough to dump her stuff before she ran out the door. She wasn’t sure how but she was going to find Victor, it took her two days to find out that there were three airbases surrounding London but getting to them wasn’t going to be easy. They were out of walking distance and with most horses sent to war and fuel strictly rations it looked like it would be impossible to get there. She came home that day heartbroken. She needed to see Victor; she had to know that he was still alive. The next day her father had made plans to go see the King as part of being the new Lord and Phryne had no choice but to go. As it turns out it was the best thing that could have happened. The Prince of Wales had started asking her about why she had come considering many of the elite were sending their daughters away to school if they were willing to risk the journey. As she explained her desire to find and spend as much time as possible with her love, she expected nothing but sympathies however Edward was more helpful than he appeared. It turned out that he was learning to fly on the very base that Victor was and had spoken to Victor many times and even heard a few stories about her. Victor had been forced more than once to explain why he would not be joining his friends at the local brothel. As far as Prince Edward was concerned it was simple she would head out together and would arrive when Victor’s units shift ended. 

Victor and his unit were just getting back it had been pretty uneventful but they were still feeling the loss of 3 of their 12 from two days ago there had been a dog fight and it was lucky that they only lost three normally the numbers were normally much worse. It was easy for the brass to put it in numbers on paper but Victor had known every one of the men that died he knew Michael's wife who sent him care packages, Johnny’s 4 younger brothers that looked up to him and saw him as their own personal hero and he knew Louis. He knew Louis who lived down the street from him, his mum, his dad, his two sisters and his nephew who adored him. They had the same friends and he knew just how many people who would be affected by his death and knew it would be the same for the others. However, today was a different day and the unit was attempting to have high spirits. 

He saw Edward sitting by the gate remembering that he was meant to be giving a lesson to the prince who was leaning on the fence. He walked up giving a small bow as Edward looked up at him.  
“I thought it would be best if we cancelled today’s lesson,” Edward said with a smirk, which Victor didn’t understand until Phryne stepped out from behind him.   
“Phryne” it was but a whisper but she took it as enough of an indicator that she ran and jumped into his arms, embracing passionately to the whoops and hollers of his comrades.   
“As I see I was right in my assumption you would have other plans.” Edward butted in awkwardly.  
“Thank you, your highness,” Victor said sincerely but without ever taken his eyes off of Phryne.  
“I am meant to be chaperoning, but I’ll leave you to your own devices and pick Phryne up at 6 30. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Edward winked at the pair as he turned around and got the others to go to the pub with him. 

The young couple did exactly what was expected, rushing to Victor's quarters. He claimed it was a miracle that they both ended up based in London, but they both knew that Phryne excelled at getting what she wanted. They lay in his bed talking about what they had missed in each other's life, Victor in particular needed to offload. He confessed of the friends he had lost and cried as he recounted how he had watched Lewis fall, admitting out loud for the first time how it affected him. 

As a pilot, Victor got to come back to base after each mission living in a lot more comfort than the boys in the trenches. He always managed to come back and so spent much of his time in London and more importantly with Phryne as a comfortable pattern emerging in their lives. They spent a year together in London it felt almost like home, except for the cold the bombings, the shootings and the complete lack of chaperones. However, in May 1916 Phryne lied successfully about her age and joined the French women's ambulance unit. 

Phryne was never one to sit by the wayside, she wasn’t going to sit at home and knit balaclavas when there was a war on. She had tried to join every women's unit there was but all of them said you had to be 21 and have your parents permission to leave the isles and she knew she could do so much more if she could get to the front. It wasn’t until May of 1916 that she managed to do it and even then she was pretty sure the French ambulance unit was just desperate enough to look the other way and train her as a nurse. When she came back from training she was given a week before they were going to send her to France and she was finally going to get to the war. 

After she got back from training she met up with Victor in London, he was waiting for her as he had been looking forward to seeing her. Meanwhile to save time she hadn’t changed out of her school uniform, the only non-nursing outfit she had taken with her on her training. They had a passionate reunion in Hyde Park, no one around them cared; the war had changed the rather reserved nation to be incredibly accepting of these kinds of displays. When every encounter with a loved one could be your last you should live without regrets. Victor was joined by his wingman Marcus and her cousin Edward while Mac who had left school and into nursing with Phryne had returned with her. Telling Victor she was leaving was surprisingly difficult, they may never see each other with both in such dangerous jobs she decided to do it quickly.   
“I finally finished my training”  
“I knew you would excel you always do.”  
“They are sending me to France next week,” Phryne admitted tears in her eyes. “I’m going to miss you.” she continued as Victor stared at her.  
“Marry me.” He blurted out with no hesitation   
“What?” She responded  
“Marry me. Phryne you are the love of my life and I have known that since I was 10. We may never see each other again and I would always regret not marrying you. I want you to be my wife for the rest of my life, be that for one week or one hundred years. Will you marry me?” He asked sincerely   
“Yes!” Phryne declared, leaping back into his arms. “When?”  
“Now I'm not wasting any time.” He declared  
“How there is no way we could get it done on time,” Phryne said in disbelief  
“I don’t know, I'm sure we can find a way.” Edward butted in. “There’s a 1000 churches in London. I'm sure that one of them can make room for a wedding. If Marcus and Victor look for a church, Phryne looks for her father and me and Mac find the odd bobs, we’ll have a wedding in no time.”  
“Okay,” Phryne said   
“Meet back here in 45 minutes then.”

It would become an ongoing joke between the two of them that they were only engaged for 53 minutes as the couple rushed around the city to make their wedding happen. Phryne found her father at his usual bar as at 16 Phryne needed his permission to marry as did every girl under 21. Marcus and Victor managed to find a small church where the priest would allow them to marry. Meanwhile, Edward was able to use his connections wisely and had a photographer at the ready and while he couldn’t get a wedding dress he did manage to get a veil. Mac meanwhile brought a bouquet of Phryne's favourite flowers. 

The wedding was at an old church the only one available on such short notice neither had time to change clothes. They married, with him in his regular uniform and her in her school uniform. Her father was too drunk to walk her down the aisle, barely sober enough to sign the paperwork so Edward to his post. Mac and Marcus acted as witnesses. They received a 3-day honeymoon before they both went to the war zone that was France. They barely heard from each other until the end of the war nearly 3 years later. 

In October 1918 Victor's plane got shot down over Germany. The plane caught fire, a pilot's worst nightmare, one that he had before and would continue to have for the rest of his life. He had terrible burns and lost most of the movement in his left arm. It took them 4 months to find each other in Paris. She didn’t have a penny to her name and no way to know what had happened to her husband. As if sculpted by fate Victor had been hospitalised in Paris, the doctors having not been sure if he could make the channel crossing. With a lot of luck and the help of a very dedicated Telegram boy, Phryne had found the hospital on Christmas eve 1918. 

The months they spent in Paris after that were incredible, they made friends, even went dancing when Victor became well enough. Phryne discovered a love of artists and posed for many paintings in all different stages of dress, their house would become decorated with some of the works she starred in. Paris also saw the beginning of a whole new kind of relationship between the two. The couple had been very young when they got together and they realised that sex was better when spread, they soon began to have an open relationship. Many girls found the returned and injured pilot attractive and Phryne had no end of offers. When they started sharing their bed with partners of both genders Victor had to admit to himself that he wanted the touch of a man. It didn’t stop him from loving Phryne and he loved having sex with Phryne, he loved the female figure he just also loved the male figure and honestly he often preferred it. Considering that Phryne didn’t particularly enjoy the touch of women they tended to share their bed with men and Paris had no end of artists who were happy to jump in. 

When every ship back to Australia was no longer filled with returning soldiers it was a new decade and the couple were looking forward to making their mark on it. The war had changed them, it gave Phryne even more desire to fix the world and Victor often wanted to be left alone. They both had mental and physical scars but despite it all, they loved each other and knew they could battle through it. Melbourne society didn’t accept their wedding. A rushed job on the other side of the world was not good enough even if a prince was present, so when they got back one was planned for them. It was big and grand and Phryne would never deny that she loved her wedding dress but it was a dreary affair that was perfect for Victor's parents. A photo from it was above their fireplace but the one from their actual wedding hung in their Bedroom. They made their own place in Melbourne, brought a few properties, one in the middle of Melbourne, one about an hour or two away with a huge garden bigger enough for a plane that could fly to their other property, a small shack in the middle of nowhere for Victor when he wanted to be away from everything. However, in the summer of 1923, Mrs Fisher got sick and Phryne and Victor moved back to London so Phryne could be near and help her mother. The only thing that was more important to Phryne than Victor and her mother was Janey so despite the fact that it moved her away from her mother and 3 months at sea was a nightmare for Victor, Janey led them back to Melbourne 2 years later and in the summer of 1925 was when life changed again for the couple.


End file.
